AIBU to set a summer schedule for my kids this summer holidays?

No, not all do but it’s far from uncommon.

And of course choosing to be up for 9am is very different to having it forced on you which is what the OP is proposing.

I think this sounds great and im
very tempted to steal this as a loose plan!

My teens are up around 6:30/7 on a weekday for school but the holidays will be flexible. The younger teen likes to be up and out with friends and the older teen likes to sleep. I like to sleep. As a term time worker in schools is will not be up and dressed by 9. Even when the kids were younger they got themselves up and had something to eat whilst I had a longer sleep then mornings were very slow and we would often got out but not until the afternoon.

I am more of a check the weather for the week and decide what we might be doing nearer the time. When kids were younger we needed to be out somewhere most days as they didn’t like being in. Youngest still doesn’t. So the idea of planning activities for the younger kids would work for me ok just not the prescribed be up and dressed times.

Oh and I’m an ex teacher and don’t think they need to be doing school work over the holidays. Encourage reading time but not necessarily first thing in the morning.

Not all do though, mine don’t. OP shouldn’t be forcing them up unless they have to go somewhere at a certain time but if they’re already up that early then fair enough.

The teens will probably hate getting up at 9am. They’ll just go back to bed when you’re on one of your scheduled days out.

Chores and work don’t need to be done early, you have just decided you want them to be. When you live with others, you have to accept people doing things differently if everyone is to be happy.

You chose to have lots of kids and because you can’t cope well in the holidays, your kids are having to face unnecessary consequences.

Younger kids can be in bed earlier, up earlier and loosely follow your plan. It’s rubbish for the older ones who want to stay up later and should be able to plan their own day.

The OP sounds very sensible - and lucky to have the resources.

I'm dreading the six weeks of bickering and bad temper with screen addicts refusing to eat properly, shower or leave their beds/the sofa, while I'm trying to work. And a trail.of crumbs and ice lolly wrappers & sticks everywhere.

It sounds lovely. My children would enjoy this structure for the most part. We’re at home for 5 weeks of these holidays and I’m instigating a bit of a holiday rhythm too.

Not sure on enforced wake up time yet, but no screens first thing.
1 or 2 board games played together.
1 or 2 chapters of a book read together, with some follow up comprehension/text analysis questions, done verbally.
Cooking or craft projects to be discussed and agreed with me.
That will take us to lunch and in the afternoon they’re free to meet up with friends, have screen time, we might go out. They will be expected to keep a tidyish room too.

I used to home educate them and this is quite a similar structure to what we did then, only there was a lot more written/jotter work then. The holidays can evaporate into thin air if you are at home a lot and don’t have a plan on how you’ll spend your days.

I’m doing something quite similar with DDs 12 and 10. Basically wake up time with morning structure and some planned activities during the week. My children would otherwise melt into the sofa and watch tv all day. They are often the type that are hard to get out of the house but then we all have fun when we actually do it.

It’s my first time doing this so I’ll see how it goes but they are on board at the moment at least!

Ever thought of allowing your kids to rest or heaven forbid enjoy themselves and see their mates?? Up by 9 to do your housework is rediculous

Op I get the sentiment behind this and suspect the day categories are loose enough to move stuff about and switch things.
i tended to ask the dc for ideas they’d like to do over the holidays and just alternate them with things I wanted to do 😂
although I think 9am is early for everyone to be up dressed and ready for the holidays unless it’s a specific all day trip where we needed to be out of the house early.
I also do understand the need if you have 5dc to keep to some kind of routine, I have 3 and when they were younger I didn’t love the endless steam of them waking up half an hour after each other and drifting into the kitchen to make 3 different breakfasts at different times. It’s 3 sets of them clearing up not quite to my standards 😂
Anyway you know your dc best, I think the 30 minutes of school work is a bit arbitrary but it’s 30 minutes out of the day and if they’ll do it without grumbling then crack on.
Now I have 2 adult dc and 1 teen who is very chilled and I will be working other than time booked off for holidays so he’ll be doing what he wants most of the rest of the time which will be getting up around 10, making breakfast and then finding some friends to play football with in the park!

I remember trying to create schedules for my DC during covid. It created peace in my mind until it came to actually following the schedule.
I understand why you want to do it, and the number of kids you have, age range, time to fill would definitwly have me tearing my hair out. DH and I both work so, other than covid, don't have such long stretches of time with no plans for the kids to fill without structure of school, activities or childcare. Scheduling the childcare and activities around work was a different kind of tough.
Do none of them have an activity camp they'd like to do? Or arrange to have friends over?
I'd say crack on with it, see how it goes for the first week or so. Be prepared to switch things around or have a day off. Maybe relax the 9am up and chores slot to 10am for the teens. And relax the schoolwork every day to 2-3 days a week. Would you go and visit friends or family for a day/two day trip at all to see another place?

Yeh, don't do this. All great ideas but they won't last for various reasons. Summer should be for spontaneity. Absolutely plan soem days but children need to learn to be bored and amuse themselves.

I can’t believe someone asked this question. Equally shocked you bothered answering. So obvious

We are up 6 sharp most days whether a school day or holiday. So for us we need to keep busy with stuff. I have to keep a routine as I have so much going on like yourself OP. I get what you're meaning though, sets a good tone for the older ones.

Why did you start this thread? You are 100% convinced that you are not unreasonable in any way and it will work well for your family. Great! Have a lovely summer. Not sure why you’re posting in AIBU though.

That wouldn't work for us. 4 dc here. Eldest 19 works so he is not involved much with our day trips and sees friends when it suits him as he has his own car. 15yo often prefers to stay at home so we just do the odd trip away during the week with the 10 and 8yo. We keep things flexible as someone usually has GP appointment or something so often that ends up being an admin day for me and I do housework.

You definitely need to be flexible. Teens have to be awake by 12 noon. That's our house rule. We don't want them turning night into day!

Yeah you know what I have no idea of what it’s like to have more than two…and that’s probably why a lot of people are confused and appalled at the same time. I can’t understand what would compel OP to do this…I also can’t understand what would compel someone to have 5 dc in the first place!! So yeah we are ultimately just very different people!

I’d be praying to get back to school….

So?

I think your plan involves too much. It is their holiday time. Why not let them enjoy times with local friends .For younger ones the reading challenge could be useful.

I think it’s a fantastic idea! Will your teens go for it? I wish I’d been stricter with mine and not let them lie in too much at that age because it’s not good for their mental health to be in bed all day. You sound a fab mum, 👏

Perfect plan, Op.
The get up by xxx time is great.

You can always try it and have the odd break from the routine if it's too structured.

Also suggest that the teens think up ways to make money.
Watch out for local shows, volunteer environmental clean ups etc too.
Would one older child enjoy taking one younger child to library etc sometimes?

Well at least they’ll be looking forward to going back to school for a relaxing break!!

#copied (no glasses on)

I actually just comped this idea.
told my kids to think of some things they want to do and I will put them in the calendar. I won’t do the get up times thing because they wake at 6 every day but I will def be making them take some more responsibility round the house with tidying because the house gets messy enough when they’re out of it for 8 hours a day… let alone when they’re in it most of the day! Lots of people on here have no clue what it’s like with more than 1/2 kids clearly